JURIST - Paper Chase: Russia to file complaint against Georgia with International Criminal Court

[JURIST] Russian officials on Monday confirmed that the nation will file a complaint against Georgia with the International Criminal Court (ICC) and said that the government is considering filing another complaint with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) [official websites]. The filings would be related to war crimes allegedly committed against ethnic Russians in the breakaway region of South Ossetia [BBC report]. Russia's Foreign Ministry [official website] has also called for Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili to resign [press release] and be tried for war crimes before the ICC. Last week, Alexander Bastrykin, chairman of Russia's Prosecutor General's Office, said that his staff is collecting evidence [JURIST report] of war crimes allegedly committed by Georgian forces in South Ossetia. The Moscow Times has more.

Last week, Georgia filed a complaint [PDF text; JURIST report] against Russia with the ICJ, alleging that invading Russian troops have engaged in murder, rape and mass displacement of civilians during the recent conflict between the countries. Georgia also accused Russia of ongoing violations of the 1965 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination [text] since 1990 based on its removal of ethnic Georgians from South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Georgia is seeking an ICJ order that Russia pay compensation, withdraw its troops, and allow all displaced ethnic Georgians to return home.

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